Intercessory prayer allows us to reflect the prayer of Jesus.   “He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners” (CCC 2634).  It is a type of prayer in which one asks for the help of God on behalf of another, which means we are not looking for our own benefit or interest in the prayer.  We are hoping for the benefit of another, and if we can seek to pray for all, friends and enemies, people we like and people we cannot stand, then we live out intercessory prayer to the fullest, as Christ intercedes for all. 

Intercessory prayer is also important in understanding the Communion of Saints.  When a person dies and goes to heaven, though it feels like we are now separated from them, we are actually more united with them than when they were alive on earth.  A saint is one who is dwelling with God in heaven, and all the saints are in perfect union with each other.  On earth, we should be seeking that kind of union with each other, but death does not separate us from those saints in heaven (nor the souls in purgatory).  We pray for the souls in purgatory to reach their heavenly home, and the saints in heaven are joined to us, interceding on our behalf to the Lord. 

This is all nice, but what does this have to do with our reflection on the Hail Mary? Today, we reflect on the request we make in the prayer of asking Mary to “pray for us sinners”.  Mary, like all the other saints, is in heaven and intercedes on our behalf.  Unlike the other saints, Mary has an intimate union with Christ through her mothership.  He listens to her in an intimate way that is unique to a mother and son.  We can see this in Scripture at the wedding at Cana.  The wedding party runs out of wine for the celebration, which is a huge cultural faux pas.  Mary, seeing the need, goes to her Son and tells him “they have no wine” (John 2:3).  Jesus protests at first.  He knows that doing what she is asking him to do will reveal his mission and Messiahship before he is ready, yet he still does as his mother asks him.  What an incredible situation!  Jesus knows it is not time and would prefer not to do the miracle, yet because it is His mother asking him, he does it. 

Mary continues to intercede to her Son on our behalf.  It is why we ask Mary to “pray for us sinners”.  We want her to go to her Son on our behalf and ask Him to help us to not be tempted, to have the strength to fight temptation, to find healing and forgiveness for the sins we have committed, and to find union with her Son.  Our relationship with Mary centers on her relationship with her Son and aiding us to have that kind of relationship with him as well.  She is a powerful intercessor that leads us to worship of her Son.